Women’s Summit speaker Carla Hall: Making your mark means doing something you love

BRYANT UNIVERSITY'S annual Women's Summit was held Friday and more than 1,100 people attended the sold-out event.
BRYANT UNIVERSITY'S annual Women's Summit was held Friday and more than 1,100 people attended the sold-out event.

SMITHFIELD – Carla Hall, known as a Top Chef finalist and co-host of ABC’s “The Chew,” told the audience of 1,100 at Bryant University’s 19th annual Women’s Summit on Friday about the “squirrely path” she took to get to where she is today.
She credited a stubborn streak – “I was fortunate enough to be stubborn” – as well as hard work and perseverance.
“You’re making your mark when you’re doing something that you love,” Hall said, playing off the summit’s “Make Your Mark!” theme.
Hall said she started out as a shy child until she saw a play called “Bubbling Brown Sugar” in New York City that changed her world.
“Had I not gone to that play, I probably would not be where I am now,” Hall said.
She talked about how she had her own catering company, and how her sous chef had a dream that she was on the television show “Top Chef.” That led to a casting call in New York, and her appearance on the show – in two different seasons.
She told the audience how she overcame her fear about facing the judges.
“I was shaking like a leaf,” Hall recalled. “Then I realized no one has ever died at the judge’s table. At that moment, I said, ‘Why am I afraid?’ … At that moment, I was no longer afraid. And I started making much better food.”
While she didn’t win either season that she competed in, she was named fan favorite, helping lead her to the next show, “The Chew,” a talk show about food.

Hall told the audience to have a plan, “but don’t have your plan so tight that you can’t get out of those lines.” She said she loved theater, intending to study it at Howard University, but opted instead for accounting. Then, traveling through Europe set her on a new career path focused on food. She even ran a lunch delivery service before she went to culinary school in Maryland at L’Academie de Cuisine.
“When you make your mark, it might be a little black mark, or a red mark, but it takes you to the next step,” Hall said. “And that’s where you want to be.”
She left the audience with some messages that she tells herself every day: “I am worthy. I am free. I am confident.”
The Bryant University 2016 Women’s Summit New England Businesswoman of the Year award went to Colette A.M. Phillips, president and CEO of Colette Phillips Communications Inc., a marketing and public relations firm in Boston.
Gov. Gina M. Raimondo also addressed the crowd, calling the summit “an amazing event.”
Raimondo took the opportunity to highlight some of her initiatives, and talk about how she is trying to make the state “a place of opportunity for everyone, a place where everyone has the opportunity to be successful.” She said there is a lot of work to do, but “we have momentum.”
The governor quoted Kati Machtley, women’s summit director, saying that leaving a mark means doing something that turns the whole world on its ear.
Raimondo talked about how skills are needed to be successful, and discussed her CS4RI program to help every public school in Rhode Island teach computer science classes by December 2017, as well as another initiative in which high school students can take college classes for free, earning college credit.
“We’re working … I believe I may be the hardest working governor around,” Raimondo said. “I believe in Rhode Island. We have all the assets we need to be great. We’re all in this boat together.”
Machtley said the summit sold out 10 hours after tickets went on sale. She said she thinks the summit is continuing to grow in popularity for several reasons: more women are the breadwinners in their families, others are working longer, past the age of 65.
The summit featured 20 different breakout sessions, including “Own Your Ambition,” “Uncover Your Genius and Exploit Your Female Advantage,” “Handling Difficult Conversations With Confidence” and “Making Your Mark With Personal Branding and LinkedIn.”
Sheila Heen, Triad Consulting Group founder; Dr. Pam Peeke, a fitness and nutrition expert; and Boston Marathon bombing survivor Heather Abbott also were keynote speakers.

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